Hurricane Michael: Category 4 storm nears Florida Panhandle

Hurricane Michael: Category 4 storm nears Florida Panhandle | 10 Oct 2018 | Gaining fury with every passing hour, Hurricane Michael closed in Wednesday on the Florida Panhandle with potentially catastrophic winds of 150 mph, the most powerful storm on record ever to menace the stretch of fishing towns, military bases and spring-break beaches. With more than 375,000 people up and down the Gulf Coast warned to evacuate, the hurricane's leading edge began lashing the white-sand shoreline with strong winds, rain and rising seas before daybreak, hours before Michael's center was expected to blow ashore. The supercharged brute quickly sprang from a weekend tropical depression, becoming a furious Category 4 early Wednesday as it drew energy from the Gulf of Mexico's unseasonably warm, 84-degree waters. Less than a day earlier, Michael was a Category 2.